


Second Chance

by casisdeansangel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, BAMF Tony Stark, But I'm gonna make Steve WORK for it, Can you tell I love Tony?, End game is Steve/Tony, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Molestation, Iron Man 2, Multi, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Tags May Change, Thor (2011) - Freeform, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-05 10:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15169217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casisdeansangel/pseuds/casisdeansangel
Summary: When Tony Stark watched Peter Parker fade to dust, his entire world collapsed around him. He failed the kid; the boy he realized he loved like a son, was gone.He closes his eyes.The next time he opens them, however, he's suddenly back in 2011, a day shy from his birthday and dying from palladium poisoning. What. The. Fuck.A Time Travel Fix-It fic where I go almost all the way back to the beginning and fix (most) of the horrible shit that happened to the Avengers in the last 7 years. And Tony Stark's in the middle of it.(There’s aSpotify Playlistfor this fic!)





	1. Tony Stark 3.0?

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, I can't believe I'm writing this. I waited until I at least got through some of the second chapter because I'm notorious for not finishing things (I still might not because That's Who I Am). If you can't tell I love Tony to death and I love his relationship with Peter. Unfortunately, they won't actually meet in this fic for awhile, sorry. But Tony will be kind of stalking him, so... This is written in kind of an informal third person style so I hope you don't mind. I'm pretty much winging this because I found that if I write an outline I never actually end up writing the story. If anyone can recommend or would like to be a beta so that I don't make too many plotholes or contradict myself, that would be great.  
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much I had writing it!

Tony would never forget the feeling of the ashes on his hands. They burned into his skin and his chest felt like it was on fire. He closed his eyes as the world fell apart around him. Blood rushed in his ears and he felt completely disconnected from his surroundings. For all he knew he was dead. God, he wished he was. This was worse than anything hell could throw at him.

For a moment he was brought back to this morning. He thought that dream was telling him that he should have a kid, but he realized now that he had been dead wrong. He already has a son. Had. ‘Too little, too late, asshole’ a voice in his head was saying. He choked on a sob and curled further into himself. He felt like he was drifting in and out of awareness and for how long he couldn’t say. Then suddenly, the world came barreling into him and his eyes flew open as his body jerked awake violently.

“Good Morning Sir, it is 12:32pm on Monday, May 28. Current temperature is 72°F, with clear skies.”

Tony just kind of stared at the ceiling in shock, his brain short-circuiting as he tried to process what the actual hell was going on. He was in his bed at his old Malibu mansion, with JARVIS, JARVIS, speaking to him like it was just any other fucking day. Like he hadn’t just experienced half of the fucking universe being eradicated. Like he hadn’t just lost one of the most important people in his life. He briefly considered this to be some hallucination or fever-dream, or even better, Thanos fucking with his reality, but none of those explanations seemed to fit with his current situation.

Abruptly, he sat upright and violently pulled the covers off him. “What year is it, J?”

“2011, Sir are you all right? Do you need me to call Ms. Potts?”

His breath caught in his throat, “Pepper’s all right?”

JARVIS sounded concerned when he said, “Yes, she is currently at her Malibu office. Would you like me to call her?”

As one anxiety left, another one struck him in the chest. Tony stumbled out of bed and scrambled to find the nearest clothes to throw on, “No, don’t bug her. I need you to find out everything you can on Peter Parker. He’s from Queens.” He cursed as he hit his toe on the side of a dresser.

JARVIS hesitated, “…May I ask why you are inquiring about this Mr. Parker?”

“Just do what I said, JARVIS!” Tony snapped.

The silence afterwards instantly made Tony feel guilty. Look at what he was doing now, yelling at his own friend after years of missing him dearly. He would apologize later, though. There was no time, he had to find Peter. He had to make sure he was okay, he just had to.

After a few seconds, JARVIS replied “Peter Parker, age 9, born June 4, 2001. Parents, Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash when he was 4. He is currently under the care of his aunt and uncle, May and Benjamin Parker. They live in the suburbs of Queens in New York City.”

“He’s all right?”

“All medical records look fine. He’s most likely attending school at this time.”

Tony felt himself hyper-focusing, his mind running 1000 miles per minute, “Great, get the suit ready. ”

“But sir-“

Tony pulled on a navy jacket, “No buts J, I want to be there by tonight.” He grabbed his phone, almost pausing to gawk at the seemingly ancient technology (by his standards at least, this was probably the most advanced cellphone in the world at the moment).

JARVIS continued to protest, “Sir, I really think that now is not a good time—“

Tony huffed in annoyance, “J, I gotta tell you, I really missed you, but now is not the time to argue with me, I—“

“SIR!”

Tony stopped in his tracks, shocked at the amount of emotion that was coming from the AI.

JARVIS seemed almost sad when he said, “Sir, I do not understand what exactly is going on right now, but you cannot be going off in the state that you are in. You need to keep searching for a way to stop the poisoning.”

Oh yeah, he forgot about the palladium. Tony looked down at his chest where the unmistakable glow of the arc reactor shined through his shirt. It’s been almost 4 years since he’s had this thing, and now that he realized that it’s there, the limited lung capacity and aching pains came rushing back. And now the added joyful feeling of being poisoned by the palladium. Shit.

“Also, tomorrow is your birthday and you have a party to host.” JARVIS added.

Double shit. Tony groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. He finally remembers this day, this time, and a lot was going to happening in the next couple days. JARVIS was right, he couldn’t just leave. But he also knew that the panic inside wouldn’t rest until he saw that Peter was alive and well.

Tony paused and rubbed his fingers under his chin. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, “Okay, new plan: Are there any cameras around his school or house?”

If JARVIS could sigh, Tony thinks he would have done so in relief. “Yes, there are.”

Tony nodded as he continued walking downstairs to his workshop, “Good, good. Keep an eye on his coming and goings from now on okay? Actually, get into any cameras you need to in order to make sure you always have eyes on him. Thats priority number 1 right now, got it?”

He knew the AI was dying to know why a 10 year old boy suddenly became so important, but Tony didn’t really have time to explain. He didn’t even know where to start, really.

“All right, sir.”

“Also cancel the party, ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Tony clapped his hands together as he reached his workshop and he smirked as YOU and Dummy both turned their heads to beep at him. “Now its time to get this show on the road. Without Daddy dearest’s stuff, I’m gonna need to find another way to make it. J, order me all the parts to build a mini particle accelerator, we’ve got work to do.”  
\- - - - - - - - - -

“Congratulations Sir, you have created a new element.”

Tony carefully picked up the Vibranium and then placed it into the arc reactor. Despite having already done it, he still found himself holding his breath as he watched the element taken in by the reactor.

“Sir, the reactor has accepted the new core. I will begin running diagnostics.”

Finally, he was finished. Tony leaned back in his chair and smiled up at the ceiling. That’s one hurdle down. The next one he wasn’t particularly exited for. He glanced at the time on a nearby computer: 1:52 am.

“Huh, looks like I’m just in time for my birthday.”

“Happy birthday, sir.” Jarvis hummed. Tony then looked to his right as Dummy, You, and Butterfingers rolled up and started beeping the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’. Off-key, of course. He laughed and patted each of them on the head when they were finished.

After the happy little interlude, JARVIS chimed in, “Diagnostics are complete.”

“Great!” Tony beamed and grabbed the new arc reactor and held it in one hand as the other pulled the old one out of his chest. He grimaced at the pain that he hadn’t felt in years and quickly shoved the new one in.

“Huh, still tastes like coconut” he murmured.

“Percentage of Palladium poisoning is already dropping, sir.” JARVIS seemed happy to report this. It finally hit Tony how much he really missed JARVIS, and how glad he was to have him back. The mistake of Ultron would always haunt him and while he liked Vision, he wasn’t JARVIS.

“Hey J?”, he whispered.

“Yes, sir?”

Tony swallowed and fought back tears. “I’m, uh, I’m glad you’ve got my back.”

The AI paused, seemingly concerned and confused,“…Always, sir.”

Tony huffed out a laugh, “I promise I’ll explain my weirder than normal behavior soon. I just have some important things to take care of first.”

Despite not replying, Tony knew that JARVIS was content with that answer for now. The AI knew exactly when to push his creator and when it was wiser to just wait for Tony to talk to him on his own. Tony always did in the end. JARVIS was like his personal, feel-good therapist. Never talked down to him and (almost) always took his side. In hindsight, probably not the best solutions to his problems, but it made him feel better so, whatever. He’s Tony Stark, he can do what he wants.

He sat in silence for a few minutes, just basking in his little homemade family. Dummy rolled up and Tony absentmindedly patted his metal head. For once in his life, he truly had a second chance. And he wasn’t going to waste it.

All of a sudden, anxiety hit him with full force. This entire time he hadn’t thought once of Peter. What kind of fa-mentor was he? He scrambled to his computer and barked out an order, “JARVIS, pull up the footage you got of Peter Parker.” Even with JARVIS’ earlier wariness of Tony’s sudden obsession with this kid, he still immediately showed yesterday’s gathered footage. Tony watched as little Peter was one of the lasts kids to exit his school. Anger stirred in his gut as another, bigger kid ran by and shoved Peter. It made Peter’s books fly to the ground and Tony felt his heart ache as the boy carefully picked them up one at a time. Then a teacher came up behind the boy and seemed to talk with him for a moment and then she reached in one of her bags and handed him something.

Tony’s suspicions were on the rise, “J, what is that?”

JARVIS sounded amused when he said, “I believe that is a lollipop, sir.”

“Oh," Tony relaxed a little bit, “do we know who she is?”

“Yes,” JARVIS said, “Peter’s 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Hughes.”

Tony watched as Peter began his trek home, “Deposit a small anonymous donation into her bank account. Usual amount.”

“Same note, sir?”

“Yep” Tony watched diligently as Peter walked along, his breath catching each time there was a gap in view between cameras. Despite knowing that JARVIS would have told him if something had happened, Tony couldn’t help the overprotective feelings bubbling up inside him. He only felt satisfied when Peter finally made it to his apartment building and entered the elevator.

“His aunt and uncle make it home?”

The screen changed to show two videos with different time stamps, “His aunt arrived at 6:00 pm last night and his uncle arrived an hour ago.”

The uncle (Ben, if he’s not mistaken) appears haggard and Tony would bet on this not being an uncommon occurrence. Right, Peter’s aunt and uncle weren’t exactly part of the upper class. It took all of his restraint not to ask JARVIS to deposit a large sum of money into their account, but last time he tried, Aunt May had cursed him out and insisted that Peter and her ‘weren’t a charity case, and you can shove your money up your ass’. He doubted that would change even with the uncle there.

Tony wished he had more time to dwell on this, but he needed to deal with Hammer and Vanko’s whole shit show. “J, Peter Parker is your new priority. His safety is above even mine. Make sure you know where he is at all times. If it’s easier I can find a way to put a tracker on him.”

“Sir, I cannot do that, my protocol states-“

“Override code: Reactor Blues.”

There was a pause, and for a second Tony thought he may have remembered the code wrong, but then, “Code accepted. New priority: Peter Benjamin Parker.”

Tony sighed with relief, “Oh, and never mention him when I’m around other people, just send an alert to my phone if it’s urgent.” Tony felt some of the weight fall from his shoulders, “Okay, okay, now that that’s dealt with for the time being…” he thought for a moment then said, “Can you hack into the military as well as Hammer Industries for me, J?”

“I am offended that you even had to ask, sir.” JARVIS replied snidely. “Estimated time of completion for the military is 30 minutes, and Hammer Industries’ database is already on your screen, sir.”

Tony laughed, “You’re a genius, J. How did I ever survive without you?” He cracked his knuckles and almost immediately his fingers started flying across the keyboard. “No, no, yep that’s right, almost there and…jackpot!” In front of him were the semantics for the Hammer drones, so abysmally wrong it’s no wonder they needed the Mark II to get them to work. Now what to do with them? He will never let them have access to the suit, but Hammer is still going to be a pain in his ass if he doesn’t do something about it.

Just as he was mulling this over, JARVIS said, “I have gained access to the U.S military database.”

Tony felt a wicked smile spread across his face, “J, pull up any files that involve the military contracting out known criminals and terrorists. Also, any instance of missions that break international laws, or anything particularly nasty you think they wouldn’t want anyone to know.”

JARVIS hummed, “That would be quite a lot of files, sir.”

If possible, Tony’s smile grew even wider, “Yeah, I know. Just pick out some big juicy ones and we’ll go from there.”

————————

A few hours later and some delightful phone calls with the Secretary of Defense had the military immediately backing out of any and all Hammer Industry contracts and Vanko back in maximum security prison. Two days from now, the Stark Expo will be a joyous event filled with innovative science and technology and there will be no killer robots anywhere near the premises. Unless you counted the Iron Man suit, but Tony didn’t like to think of it that way.

“Sir, Ms. Potts and Ms. Rushman are on the premises and they are wondering why you decided to cancel the party.”

Fuck. Tony scrambled out of his chair and almost tripped over his own feet. He should have known this would happen. It had to happen eventually, you don’t just start acting differently and expect no one to question it, especially Nat. At that thought, Tony paused. He completely forgot about the whole Natalie is really Natasha, the super secret spy agent sent by SHIELD to assess his ability to work in the Avengers thing.

For the first time since he woke up in the past, Tony took a moment to actually think back on this time in his life. Okay so he was dying, fixed that, had a shitty birthday party that ended in disaster, not going to be repeated, then he was stuck on house arrest for a day by SHIELD until he figured out a way to make the new element, not needed, and finally the Stark Expo and fighting the Hammer drones, already taken care of. If he was any younger, Tony might have just taken the day to relax and casually celebrate his birthday, but he wasn’t and he is full of anxiety that will not let him rest for like a second. So he’s not going to wait on SHIELD to play their cards, he’s going to show them some of his.

“They are on their way to the lab, ETA 20 seconds.”

He had a whole speech planned out. As the sound of two sets of high heels descended into his workshop, Tony was spinning together the most mind blowing, badass speech that would have Natasha shaking in her spy boots. SHIELD would think twice before fucking with him in this timeline.

Just as Pepper and Natasha entered the workshop and Tony swiveled in his chair to face them, he was jolted up from his seat by a revelation.

“NEW MEXICO!”

Both women flinched at the exclamation as Tony flew from his desk and started running around his workshop like a headless chicken.

“Of course! Why didn’t I think of it sooner! If you want to catch one alien, you’ve got to team up with another!” Tony mumbled this to himself. He was aware enough to not start spouting things around Pepper and a scary assassin that would get him locked up in a mental institution. He grabbed seemingly random items from around the room and then went to the back and touched his hand against the wall to reveal a hidden vault in which he took out a device that looked like a phone and shoved it into his back pocket.

“JARVIS, get the suit ready.” Another panel on the wall opened up and the iron man suit was opening up. Tony stepped into it and the armor began piecing itself together around him. He winced as something pinched his side, Tony wasn’t used to this old clunky way of suiting up and he made a mental note to begin upgrading to a sleeker version as soon as possible. He couldn’t quite do the nano-suit yet as some of the technology required would take a long time to complete, especially with the subpar tech of this time period. He’d have to make almost all of the necessary machines himself, which would be a pain in the ass.

With all but the mask in place, Tony turned to Pepper and Nat, who looked equally bewildered, “Sorry about the last minute cancel Pep, just wasn’t feeling up to partying today.”

To her credit, Pepper recovered very quickly, “ That’s fine Tony, but where are you going? What’s this about New Mexico?”

“Yeah, I felt I’d change it up this year and spend my birthday in a relaxing remote area, maybe watch the stars tonight or whatever.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow, “In a desert? During the summer?”

Shit, “Ya know, I thought you’d be happy for me, taking some ‘me time’, getting in touch with nature and all that.”

“You hate the desert. You spent three months in one.”

Okay, ouch. He kind of forgot about that. Not really the worst thing that happened to him anymore. Rarely have nightmares about it nowadays. Mostly just ones about Steve stabbing him in the chest with his shield or aliens killing everyone on Earth (which turns out was a very justified fear). He’s got a feeling the next time he sleeps there will be some new ones featuring a purple testicle and some god damn dust (he’s not thinking about Peter, he’s NOT).

He slid his faceplate down and said, “Well, new age new me. People change. I’m forty-ei—forty-one and I think its time for Tony Stark 3.0.”

Pepper hesitates for a moment then sighs and pinches her nose, “Fine, just no major declarations to the world please. I just became CEO and I don’t want to have to do some emergency PR because you decided to tell the world you want to be a hermit in the mountains or something.”

Tony glanced over at Natasha and despite her outwardly perplexed but innocent appearance, he knew that she was analyzing every word he said and writing a mental report like, ‘Stark displaying sudden erratic and strange behavior and has apparently decided to spend his last days in the middle of the desert. Some strange self-punishment? Reason 452 for why Tony Stark should not be placed on the Avengers Initiative.’

And no, he is not still bitter about the whole ‘Iron Man Yes, Tony Stark Not Recommended’ thing. Not at all.

Tony started walking to the exit, “Yeah sure, no problem. I’m just gonna” he points to the opening garage-like door, “Go.”

He fired up the repulsors and turned to leave, but paused and slightly turned his head to the side.

“Hey Natasha, let SHIELD know that I fixed my little ‘problem’ and I won’t be needing their help. And I don’t give a shit about Fury’s super secret boy band because I’m making my own, so suck it.” He lifted his faceplate for a moment and made sure to look Nat in the eyes when he said, “Oh, and you’re fired.” He hovered in the air and turned to smile and wave at Pepper, “Bye honey, I’ll be back soon.”

With that he was out the door and soaring at top speeds (not hearing the confused “honey?” from Pepper). Tony honestly didn’t know when he decided to make his own Avengers until just a few seconds ago. It just kind of slipped out.

“J? Is there still a team involved in finding Captain America?” His father had a much bigger operation going year round when he was alive, pouring thousands into finding his long lost creation. No matter how much Tony hated when Howard shoved the Good Captain in his face, he didn’t have the heart to completely shut the program down when his parents died. Obviously, SHIELD had their own team searching or else Tony would have known about Cap a hell of a lot sooner. Fucking SHIELD can fuck themselves.

“Yes,” the AI replied, “Stark Industries currently funds a small expedition twice a year in search of the Captain. They just returned from one a month ago.”

Part of Tony hated that he had to do this but he said, “All right, put another, bigger, trustworthy team together and make sure they have as much funding as they need. Also, assign them some extra security I don’t trust SHIELD not to come in and snatch him once we’ve found him. Tell them to head out as soon as possible.” He paused, “Oh and make sure they bring some medical professionals, specifically those who are well versed in hypothermic and comatose patients.”

“Of course, sir.”

Tony had no idea when SHIELD had originally found Steve but all he can do is hope to god he isn’t too late.

He sighed and glanced down at the coast below. He can’t think about this right now, it’s too much. He’s got to focus on the mission. “Okay, let’s go find us a Dr. Jane Foster.” And with that, Tony was soaring at top speeds to New Mexico.


	2. New Mexico

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omigod!!!!! The response I got on this fic was absolutely amazing! I am so happy, you don't even know. It really pushed my ass into gear in order to get this chapter out before my birthday tomorrow.
> 
> So, about this chapter. For anyone who likes Darcy and or Jane, well this chapter is for you I guess. I'm not really a fan of either one, but I hope I treated them right here. They will probably only be in one more chapter, the next two at the most. 
> 
> Again, I'm so grateful for the wonderful comments and love this is getting. It makes my heart swell and makes me want to write even more! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

He arrived in the tiny desert town of Puente Antiguo in about a half an hour. It was like its own little world; he exited the armor and walked into the nearest convenience store and the people there didn’t even bat an eye when they saw him. When he asked about Jane Foster, they just pointed him to an abandoned car place on the outskirts of town and went along with their business. Tony wasn’t used to people not freaking out around him and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Tony went back to the armor and had JARVIS take control to walk alongside him as he made his way to ‘Smiths’ or whatever the fuck the cashier said it used to be called. He walked up to the building and saw a young woman sitting at the counter, typing away on her phone and an open laptop in front of her. Further towards the back of the room where Tony assumed their lab was located, lights were constantly flickering and he could see through the door Selvig sporadically walking back and forth. Tony didn’t see Dr. Foster anywhere but the crazy Eric Selvig pretty much guaranteed that she would be nearby.

He turned back to the suit, “Okay, JARVIS, stay out here for now and keep watch for any suspicious persons. Especially if they seem SHIELD affiliated.”

Instead of a verbal reply, the helmet nodded in assent.

Tony smiled and patted the suit’s shoulder, “Good, thanks J.” With that, he grabbed the phone like object from his back pocket and tapped a few buttons, then put it in the inside of his jacket. While it was a phone, it functioned as a mobile JARVIS and performed a variety of useful tasks such as blocking all incoming and outgoing signals in the area and hacking into basic computers and tech. Or just simple recording of conversations, stuff like that. Almost immediately, Tony could see the woman’s laptop show a blue error screen and her phone turning off and most of the lights in the back room went dark. He’s being a little overdramatic but drama was practically his middle name.

He walked in the front door, “Sorry to interrupt guys, but—“ he was cut off by the woman sitting at the counter leaping to her feet and whirling around with a taser in front of her.

“Don’t get any closer! I’m not afraid to zap you!”

Tony stared at her for a moment then huffed out a laugh, “Well, not the warmest welcome I’ve received but definitely one of the more interesting ones.” A door to the right opened and out came a bedraggled Jane Foster, who stoped in shock when she realized who he was.

“Oh my god! Darcy!” she hurried over to the taser girl and grabbed her arm, “Put that down right now! Don’t you know who that is?”

The girl, who’s name seemed to be Darcy, sneered, “Of course, but I don’t care; he makes one wrong move and he’s a goner!” Still, she lowered her taser but kept it in her hand.

Then, Dr. Selvig stepped out of the back room, “Now, what’s going on—oh my.”

Jane sighed and moved her hair behind her ear and stepped forward with her arm outstretched, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Dr. Stark.”

Tony’s smirk turned slightly genuine at the title—no one ever calls him a doctor (despite his FOUR PhD’s)—and he took her hand to shake it, “Likewise Dr. Foster.”

There was a moment of silence where everyone just stared at each other awkwardly until Jane coughed. Selvig startled and stepped forward, “Oh! Um,” he shifted some folders to his left side and stuck his hand out, “Dr. Erik Selvig, astrophysicist.”

Despite Tony’s previous limited interactions with the man, and most of them occurring when the professor was mentally unstable, he respected him in that science colleague way. But Tony ignored the outstretched hand and just nodded in response (he still can’t the image of the guy in nothing but underwear out of his head). He turned to the crazy taser girl, who was shooting daggers at him.

It took a nudge from Jane for her to open her mouth, “Darcy Lewis. Black belt in karate. And I’ve taken a self defense class.”

Jane groaned and shook her head, “Sorry about her, she’s very brash and … outspoken.”

Tony waved his hand, “Nah, its fine. It's actually kind of refreshing to the usual reactions I get.” Suddenly, he clapped his hands together, and started wandering the room “Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I’m here. I mean, why would Tony Stark waste his time with some random space junkies?” He paused when he noticed Darcy sneering and Jane frowning. Okay Tony, curb your ego for a second.

“Well, if you didn’t know, today’s my birthday and I decided to take a small trip out to the middle of nowhere to get some peace and quiet when I got this great idea!” he turned from where he was fiddling with an old coffee machine, “I want to do some star gazing tonight!” The three of them just stared blankly at him. Shit, you better explain yourself, Stark.

He swallowed and plastered his best press smile on his face, “And I thought, who better to stargaze with then the most renowned astronomer in the world!” Selvig seemed somewhat appeased, but Tony could tell the two women’s bullshit meters were going off. Tony sighed internally, what is with strong independent women and seeing right through his shit.

Tony dropped the smile and waited for a moment and all he got was Dr. Foster raising her eyebrow at him. Groaning, he started the barely functioning coffeemaker and proceeded to make himself a cup, “Can’t seem to lie very well lately, sorry about that. It was sort of improvised.” He brought the cup up to his mouth and relished in the feeling as the burning liquid went down his throat. “Ahh, that’s the stuff. Nice taste in coffee by the way.”

Jane apparently lost her patience, “I’m sorry Mr. Stark, (she ignored the ‘ooh we’re downgrading to Mr. now, are we?’ from Tony) but we’re very busy and would appreciate you just getting to the point.”

Tony nodded and sat down at one of the wobbly stools at the counter, “All right, sounds fair.” Then he pulled out his phone and hit a button and said, “Hey J? Do you detect any transmitting devices nearby that I didn’t shut off the first go around?”

A pause, then, “No, I don’t detect any such device.”

Tony hummed, “Good, I didn’t want to have to set off an EMP. I haven’t upgraded this armor to resist them yet.”

“Hey!” Darcy said. “So that was you who messed with my phone! What gives!”

“I had to make sure no one was listening in on our conversations,” he said. “I bet you’re already on SHIELD’S radar because of your research and I’m frankly surprised they haven’t showed up yet.”

Jane tilted her head in confusion, “SHIELD? What the hell is that?”

Tony took another sip of his coffee, “A super secret organization that basically deals with all the crazy stuff that happens around the world. Especially aliens, they love that shit.” And Hydra but he still hasn’t figured out how to deal with that one yet.

He slowly twirled in his seat, “Basically, I have personal reasons to be hanging out with you guys for the next few days. Astronomical anomalies are very critical for my, uh, research.”

Maybe it was the slightly crazed and sleep-deprived look in his eye, but Jane decided to take pity on him and said, “All right, you can stay.”

Dr. Selvig grinned and started raving about having ‘another genius in the mix’, while Darcy looked like she was about to explode. “What the fuck, Jane? That was barely an explanation! What if he’s not even the real Tony Stark, but instead some doppelgänger?”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “Really, I thought _I_ was paranoid. JARVIS, come on in.”

All three of them turned around to see the Iron Man suit walk into the building and stop in front of them. Selvig and Jane just stared in awe and Darcy whistles in appreciation. “Nice,” she says as she knocks on the chest-plate. “Seems real to me.”

“Glad it lives up to your standards,” Tony deadpans.

Jane walks up to the laptop on the counter and tries to turn it on, but it remains dark. “Um,” she turns to Tony and points at it, “can you maybe...?”

Tony jolted, “Oh yeah, sorry. He takes out his phone again and furrows his brows as he scrolls for a moment. Then he smiles, “Okay, everything checks out. No bugs or hacks in any of your systems, so you’re free to go.” He rapidly types out something and adds, “And JARVIS is one installed on all your devices, so if you need anything or have any questions, just ask him. Think of him as a better and smarter Alexa.” He glances up when no one laughs and internally winces when he realizes his mistake. That Amazon abomination isn’t a thing yet, dumbass (and never will be if he has anything to do with it).

He quickly barrels through that oversight, “Anyway, everything is secure now, SHIELD won’t be able to touch it. And if they try to come get it, I’ll claim it’s Stark Industries property and then they’d be stealing from a multi-billion dollar company. The paperwork that would cause wouldn’t be worth it.”

Jane and Darcy got angry, starting to yell about rightful ownership and hard work (and college credits?).

Before it went too far and the Darcy brought out her taser again, Tony held his hands up, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m not actually going to take your stuff. I promise not to pass off any of it as my own and any money or recognition it gets goes directly to you guys. Really, it’s just to cover our asses against shady organizations like SHIELD.” They still looked skeptical so he said, “I’ll pay you too.”

Jane and Selvig looked concerned about that but Darcy pumped her fist in the air. “Hell, yeah! 6 college credits and money!” She walked up to Tony and patted his shoulder (Tony tried not to flinch at her touch but the slight frown on her face told him he failed), “You’re not so bad after all, Stark.”

He turned to Jane and Selvig, “Really, don’t worry about it, it’s the least I can do for intruding on you guys.”

They looked at each other; Selvig shrugged and Jane paused a moment, then rolled her eyes and turned back to Tony. “Fine. You can still stay. Just don’t get in my way.”

Selvig groaned but Tony grinned, “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He spread his arms out wide, “Consider me your humble servant on your quest for scientific discovery.”

Jane scoffed but Darcy, already typing away on her laptop, doesn’t look up when she says, “Great, get me a danish and coffee, extra sugar, pronto.”

Tony turned to glare at her and tapped his phone, causing Darcy’s laptop to turn dark and a sad face to appear on screen. Selvig shook his head in amusement and Jane chuckled as Tony and Darcy started arguing.

Things were certainly going to be interesting.

————————

The rest of the day passed uneventfully; it was probably the most mundane birthday Tony ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the _worst_ (that title belongs to his 10th birthday when his Dad had yet again forgotten and his Mom was too depressed to get out of bed). He enjoyed the rapid fire intellectual conversations he had with Selvig and Jane. It was a nice change from the ones he usually has with idiotic investors and even more idiotic politicians.

Currently, Tony was simultaneously watching Jane work and upgrading his suit through a projection from his phone. He had also started a search for Bruce, but the guy really did know how to hide, and even if he was being followed by Nat now, it wasn’t like she was the easiest to track either. To do that, he would have to hack into SHIELD, and even his and JARVIS’ combined power, he still needs a physical link to the main network to get anywhere. It was a good thing SHIELD’s tech department was too stupid to realize this, or else his sudden knowledge of Natasha’s real identity would be hard to explain.

It was nearing sunset and things were comfortable in the makeshift lab. Figures it would be ruined.

“Hey! Who the hell are you guys!” Darcy yelled from the front room.

Tony immediately bolted towards the suit and scrambled inside, heart pumping with adrenaline and a million worst case scenarios were going through his mind. When he ran out of the lab, he berated himself for not immediately knowing who it was. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Excuse me!” he removed his faceplate and began disassembling himself from the suit, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Darcy had her taser out and pointed at a disgruntled Nick Fury, who had a small group of agents ransacking the place. Fury turned to him and if Tony was any younger or had more self-preservation, he would have shriveled under the one-eyed glare sent towards him.

“Stark,” Fury growls, “should have known you were coming here instead of going on your ‘spiritual awakening’ bullshit.”

Tony did his best posturing as he stepped right up to the bigger man (god he hated being shor—smaller than average), “Science can actually be pretty enlightening, in my opinion.”

Fury’s hand twitched towards his gun and Tony almost wished he had kept the suit on. Almost. “Look, pirate-man, these people and their research are hereby Stark Industries’ property so I’m gonna need you to call off your hounds and get the hell out.” Nick didn’t reply so Tony started fidgeting, “Now I know SHIELD is just doing this for ‘world security’ but that’s something I’m kind of dabbling in right now and I got here first so,” Tony grabbed one of Darcy’s donut’s and took a bite, “finders keepers.”

Still, silence. He set down the pastry and grabbed a napkin, taking out a pen from inside his jacket, “Look, if you really want to pursue this, email my secretary,” he quickly scribbled something down and took out his wallet. He grabbed a hundred dollar bill and handed that along with the napkin to Fury.

He made sure to look Fury in the eye when he said, “I’d read that carefully if I were you, her last name is easy to misspell.”

Fury read the note and Tony watched as his one eye darkened immensely, “You’re giving me the real email, Stark? I don’t want to be lead on a wild goose chase.”

“Nah, lying isn’t really my style.”

Fury stared at him for a few seconds, trying to detect any deception. When he found none, he sighed and touched his earpiece, “Abort mission, I repeat, abort mission.”

It was a testament to SHIELD’s agent standards when they all immediately stopped what they were doing and headed out the door. Fury was the last one to exit. He held out the napkin, “Don’t worry, I memorized it. I figure you don’t want SHIELD knowing your secretary’s email; possible security breach right there.” Tony smirked and took it back, “Ya know, I don’t like being handed things, but I’ll make an exception for you Nicky Bear.”

Fury’s lip twitches but he just nods and walks out, determination in every footstep.

Darcy and later Jane had watched the exchange and looked equally confused, “How’d you get Captain Hook to leave so fast?” Darcy asked.

Tony glanced down at the note he scrawled on the napkin: ‘Hydra infiltrated SHIELD from beginning. Pierce is at the head’. Then, he shoved it in his pocket, having every intention of burning it tonight, “I’m just naturally persuasive.” He picked up his unfinished donut and took a huge mouthful, “I mean, I got you guys to let me stay.”

There was a ‘true’ from Darcy, but Jane looked at him for a bit then seemed to give up and sighed. She looked out on the mess that SHIELD made and groaned, “Are you kidding me? Do they have any respect for people’s property?”

At that moment Selvig walked through the front door, arms filled with grocery bags, “Whoa, looks like a tornado went through here. What’d I miss?”

Tony snorted and started laughing, Jane joining him. As they laughed, Selvig glanced at Darcy, “Are they doing okay?”

Darcy shrugged, “Eh, must be the sleep deprivation.”

————————

That night, Tony was lying down alone on the roof of the building, the suit sitting upright next to him. He was watching the stars in the sky. Despite the dangers he knows are out there, he can’t help but feel some sort of calm watch over him.

“I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far, don’t you think, J?”

The suit’s head turned to look down on him, “Doing a good job at what, sir?”

“Eh,” Tony shrugged, “life I guess.”

“Oh,” JARVIS said, “then yes, I believe you are doing a good job.”

A few minutes pass in companionable silence, then, “Sir, would you like to see the day’s collected footage on Mr. Parker?”

Tony grinned, feeling his heart lighten in his chest, and pulled out his phone, “Show me everything.”

————————

A few hours later and Tony had fallen asleep on the roof. The only sounds were crickets and a coyote howling in the distance.

Suddenly, thunder boomed nearby and Tony woke with a start. He stood up and looked out across the desert, noticing an area a few miles away that was strangely covered in dark clouds, lightning shooting every which way.

Out of nowhere, a huge column of light rained from the sky and then quickly disappeared. Yes! This was the moment he was waiting for! He grabbed the helmet from his suit and put it on, “J, zoom in for me.”

As the cloud began to part and the view focused, he started to see a figure of a man. Must be Thor, great. But as the image became clearer, he noticed the figure wearing a familiar cape, and was that...?

Oh no. He watched as the figure held up a hammer-shaped object and begin spinning it around. This wasn’t supposed to happen, Thor was supposed to be human! Why the hell did he have his powers?!

Thor shot up in to the sky and immediately started heading in Tony’s direction.

“Well, shit. Things just got more complicated.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's going on??? Why isn't Thor a mortal??? Why is Tony babe???  
> Guess we'll find out next time ;)


	3. Thor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Once again, I’m so grateful for the wonderful comments; it’s like chicken soup for my writer’s soul.  
> Sorry about the bigger gap between updates, I was busy Saturday and Sunday so I could only start on this chapter on Monday. Sadly, there will be no consistent schedule for updates, because like I said, I don’t have a plan for this fic. It just sort of writes itself and ideas come to me as they will. But I’ll do my best to keep the wait time at a minimum. I’d like to keep it from going over a week between updates. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, not a lot of action, mostly Thor and Tony talking and stuff. Enjoy!

It took only a few seconds for Thor to land in front of him. Tony stumbled back and glanced sideways at his suit. There was no way he’d be able to get into it in time if things got hairy. He hadn’t planned for any of this; what the hell had happened? Was this some weird butterfly effect bullshit? Whatever it was, facing the full might of Thor again after all these years made him really not want to repeat the fight that happened the first time they met.

Thor looked at him in confusion, “Stark? Why are you here?”

Oh my god Tony couldn’t believe his luck, “I-I could ask you the same thing, point break.”

They just stood there in silence for a few seconds, assessing each other, trying to see digest this astonishing discovery.

Tony couldn’t help but flinch when Thor dropped his hammer on the roof. When the god started moving towards, he tensed up immediately. Flashes of Thor holding him by the neck flew through Tony’s mind, but were stopped when he was suddenly enveloped in a firm but gentle hug.

“It is good to see you, my friend.” Thor mumbled above him.

For a moment, Tony was frozen and in a state of shock. But soon he let go, and relaxed into the embrace. Mainly because it felt like he hadn’t been hugged in ages and he was so relieved that he wasn’t alone in all this. That he wasn’t the only one cursed with the knowledge of what was to come.

Tony and Thor has never been the closest of friends—more like comrades, or co-workers—but shared experiences tend to bring even the most unlikely people together.

Eventually, Thor pulled away, but kept his hands on the sides of Tony’s arms. “How much do you remember?”

Tony’s gaze saddened and shifted to the side, “I remember the snap,” his breath hitched and Thor’s grip tightened, “and not long after that I was 7 years in the past.”

Thor nodded and let his arms fall to the side, “Yes, that sounds about right. I was on Earth aiding the others and...we failed.” He bowed his head and his shoulders hunched up in shame. “It was my fault, if I had been strong enough, or by gods, even aimed slightly higher we wouldn’t have...” He sighs, “There is no use in dwelling on things that have not even happened yet, not when we have been blessed with this second chance.”

Tony agrees but, “Doesn’t stop us from remembering though.”

Thor clenched his fists and turned his head to the side, “Indeed.”

But soon, Thor turned back with a small smile, “I am truly glad you are here. It will make things easier when I retrieve the tesseract.”

“Wait, what?” Tony said. “Why would you want to take it back? Thanos obviously ended up getting it anyway, so it’s clear Asgard isn’t a safe-“

“Asgard is not to blame!” Thor bellowed and Tony winced, “We are perfectly capable of protecting the tesseract, it-“ he paused, and suddenly all the anger evaporated. He sighs, “We, no, I, failed in keeping the cube from falling into the wrong hands. Many...unfortunate events occurred in our previous world and Asgard was destroyed, along with most of its people. I, and little more that a thousand of my people were the only ones to survive.” Thor’s face crumpled in grief and pain, “I should have known fate would not destroy the tesseract along with everything else.”

Tony felt his heart ache in sympathy and he reached out his hand to touch Thor’s shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

Smiling back weakly, Thor placed his hand over Tony’s and said, “Thank you. You are-“

At that moment, Darcy slammed open the roof door and barged out in her pajamas, “What the hell is all that noise! Some people are _trying_  to…” she trailed off when she saw Thor and Tony, frozen in the same position.

Her eyes looked back and forth between the two, “Is this some gay LARPing or?”

Thor tilted his head in confusion but Tony rolled his eyes and let go of Thor’s shoulder. “No, dipshit, this is Thor,” he swung his arms out to point at him, “God of Thunder and Prince of Asgard. Show some respect.”

Tony ignored the glare Thor sent his way for immediately revealing his identity and instead gave him a look that said, ‘go on!’.

Thor rolled his eyes and turned completely to Darcy, “Greetings, Dar-“ Tony kicked him and Thor jolted, “uh, I mean, my lady. Indeed, I am a Prince of Asgard, but please do not feel the need to treat me any differently than um,” he glanced at Tony, “a friend.” He cringed when Tony shook his head at the word, but dealt Darcy the best smile he could muster.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence that made Tony’s skin crawl and then Darcy scoffed, “Is this your, ‘oh so important research’ you moved in with us for?”

Tony rubbed the back of his head to appear sheepish, “Yeah well, surprise. He came a little earlier than expected, but no big deal. We’ll be out of your hair in no time, right Thor?” He looked at Thor for confirmation, but the god was staring at the rooftop doorway, where Jane had appeared after hearing all the commotion. Thor looked sad, while Jane seemed immediately enthralled by him.

Oh, right. Those two were a thing. Tony coughed, “…Or we could stay awhile? I have to go back for the Stark expo in two days but…”

A light flashed in Thor’s eye and he turned to the side to face Tony, “No, we should depart. We have much to discuss.” His face was completely closed off. It made Tony want to say no, but he knew that there was too much at stake for them to worry about romance now. He thought about the fact that he and Pepper weren’t together yet in this timeline either. Now that was an emotional and moral dilemma that he didn’t want to deal with right now, that’s for sure.

“Yeah,” he said, “let me put on the suit and we can leave.”

As Tony picked up his helmet and headed toward the Iron Man suit, Jane seemed to snap out of her reverie, “Wait, you’re just leaving? No explanation?”

Tony turned back, with his helmet under his armored arm, “Don’t worry, I’ve already sent the money to your accounts. It should be more than enough to compensate for my intrusion.”

“That—that’s not the problem! Who is this guy?” She looks at Thor with a slight blush on her face, “Why does he look like he belongs at Comic Con?”

Darcy leaned over and whispered something in to Jane’s ear. The scientist looked incredulously at her and said, “Seriously?” Darcy whispered something else. Jane just stared for a moment then pinched the bridge of her nose.

She said, “So, I assume you won’t be telling us anything else, huh?”

Tony shrugged and put on his helmet, “Sorry, classified information. Very need to know.” He flipped the faceplate down and started powering up the repulsors, “If SHIELD, or anyone else bothers you again, you’ll still have basic access to JARVIS, so just have him call me.” Then he gestured Thor to follow him and he took to the air, the thunder god right behind him. Neither of them looked back, despite knowing that they would most likely never see that town, or any of the people there, ever again.

————————

Tony took Thor to his Malibu mansion, mainly because it was closer and he felt more secure there. He landed on the driveway out front, Thor beside him soon after. He disassembled the suit and had JARVIS walk it downstairs to the lab.

Thor seemed almost timid as he followed Tony into his living room. Tony walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of scotch. He only hesitated a second before pouring himself a glass and immediately downing it. “I know our alcohol doesn’t do much for you, but do ya want a drink?”

It took Thor a second to realize Tony was talking to him, “Oh! Ah, yes, that would be nice.”

Tony grabbed an extra glass and brought the bottle back to the couch. He set them down on the coffee table and flopped onto the soft couch. Thor sat stiffly beside him, jaw clenched.

“So,” Tony started, “you want to talk about what happened—well—before? In the future? I don’t know how these things work.”

“Me neither,” Thor muttered. Then he looked down into his lap, staring at the palms of his hands. “I’m sorry. It is my fault that we are in this predicament in the first place.”

Tony moved his arm to rest behind the couch, “How? You weren’t the ones to send us back.”

“No, but I didn’t aim for the head.”

Tony’s mouth formed an ‘oh’, “Well, I let Thanos take the Time stone, so I guess we’re even. Though I have to say it wasn’t really my fault, we almost had the gauntlet—and we would have, if that Starlord cunt didn’t lose his cool and punch the purple dick in the face.”

Thor turned and raised an eyebrow, “You met the—oh what was it—Guardians of the Cosmos?—no, wait—Guardians of the Galaxy, that’s it.”

Tony nodded, “Yeah, you know them? Pretty weird group, I’ll tell you that.”

“Indeed. One of their members was a talking rabbit. He was on Earth during the battle.” Thor finally leaned back into the couch, “Feisty little thing, that one; gave me an eye though, so he was alright I suppose.

“An eye?”

“Yes, my sister took my right eye during Ragnarok. Quite a mess she caused.”

Tony sat up, “Wait, you have a sister? Since when?”

Thor shrugged, “Since I was born, apparently. My father keeps her locked up because he could not control her love for death and destruction. I don’t know whether it was done out of necessity, or because he couldn’t bare to be reminded of all the pain that he caused alongside her.” Thunder cracked outside, “When he died, so did the magic keeping her imprisoned.” He absentmindedly produced lighting in his fingertips, watching the tiny sparks dance across his hands.

Tony didn’t want to touch those daddy issues right now, so he pointed at Thor’s hand, “That’s a new trick. Haven’t seen you do that before.”

Thor hummed, “I unlocked a new power within me after my father’s death. I guess once you turn it on, you can’t unlearn the feeling. So, it followed me here.”

It was quiet for awhile; the only sounds were the waves hitting the cliffside and the light pattern of rain that appeared.

Tony, of course, was the first to break the silence, “So, your brother gone off the deep end yet? Should we prepare for a repeat of New York?”

Thor looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders (Tony could relate) as he said, “No, he was well when I departed, albeit suspicious of my sudden change in behavior.” The god sighed rested his hand under his chin, “But I suspect it won’t be long before Loki discovers his true heritage and then I will do my best to keep him from falling once again.” Tony noticed that Thor’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, “However, there are no guarantees when it comes to my brother; I may fail him, just as I always have.”

This was getting too close to those Big Emotions for Tony’s liking. Come on, say something genius! Get yourself out of this!

Thankfully, before Tony could put his foot in his mouth and say something totally insensitive, Thor calmed down, “Either way, as long as the tesseract is on Earth, Thanos will send someone with the mind stone to open the portal.” He paused and his mouth thinned into a grim line, “As much as I despise saying it, I believe we were lucky that Loki was the one who we had to face. Although he never admitted it, I know he sabotaged the invasion so that we would win.” At Tony’s disbelieving scoff he narrowed his eyes, “I know my brother. If he truly desired it, he could have taken over Midgard in a matter of days.”

At the certainty in Thor’s eye, Tony looked away and coughed into his fist. “Okay, I guess I’ll believe you. So..what? You want to take the tesseract back to Asgard? Wouldn’t they just open a portal there?”

Thor threw his head back and chuckled, “Asgard is more than capable of handling a single being with a magical scepter. Not to mention, the vault we store it in dampens most of the cube’s power.” Thor tilted his head to look at Tony, “No, the tesseract is safest on Asgard for now.”

At this point, Tony could care less about where the tesseract would end up as long as he didn’t have to fly a nuke into space again. “Alright, your argument is valid. Thing is, I have no idea where the damn thing is. Maybe if I had access to SHIELD’s database I could find it, but I’m not on good terms with them right now, considering that half of them are Nazi’s.” Okay, he’s exaggerating on the half part, but the fact that there were any Nazi’s running around SHIELD made his skin crawl. He hoped Nick would be able to root them out quickly.

Tony reached for the bottle of scotch and was pouring himself another drink when it hit him. The bottle and glass shattered on the hardwood floor and Tony barely notice the alcohol soaking his pant legs.

Thor leaped up, “Stark, are you all right? What is wrong?”

“Shit! Fucking shit! I forgot about Barnes what the fuck!” Tony grabbed the other glass and threw it against the wall, “God dammit! Now I have to—god, I should have waited to tell Fury, who knows what Hydra will do if they even catch a hint—I have to find him, Steve will _kill_  me if they-I-“ Tony clutches his chest and reached out to catch himself on the side of the couch. He couldn’t breathe, how could he be so fucking stupid. Oh god, maybe his subconscious made him forget because he still harbors rage at Barnes for killing his parents (which is dumb because he knows it wasn’t the guy’s fault. He was tortured and brainwashed for Christ’s sake and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Tony found out, but still he...).

Panic scorched through his veins and his chest felt like lead and his vision had blurred, oh god, oh god, oh-  
“Ow!” He yelped as he felt the brief shock of electricity in his arms. He glared up at Thor, who had apparently magically appeared in front of him and was holding him upright because Tony’s own legs had somehow stopped working. “What was that for?”

“To get you to come back to yourself.” Thor’s face was filled with concern and determination, “Tell me what worry’s you, my friend.”

Tony’s breath started to quicken again, but Thor steered him on to the couch and sat down so close that their knees were touching. In most circumstances, Tony would have protested, but right now, he was too shaken from the panic attack to reject any sort of comfort.

Tony jolted when Thor brought a firm hand onto his shoulder. “Tell me.”

Maybe it was the stress talking, but Tony bit the inside of his cheek and then proceeded to tell Thor what had happened to the team while the god was gone.

————————

“So, this man, Barnes, was the Captain’s friend from his childhood?”

“Yep.”

“And instead of being dead as everyone assumed, he had actually been abducted by Hydra and was then tortured and brainwashed until he would kill for them?”

“Yeah.”

“And two of the people he murdered were your parents?”

“...Yes.”

Thor’s eyebrows furrowed and his frown deepened, “And you have already told Nick Fury of Hydra’s treachery within SHIELD, making Barnes’ fate unknown.”

Tony looked into his lap, rubbing his left wrist, “Yeah, that about sums it up, Point Break.”

“This is most troublesome,” Thor said. “Do you have a picture of him?”

Tony tilted his head in confusion and took out his phone, “I mean, we’ve got some from the war—JARVIS pull up photos of Sargent James Barnes—yeah,” Tony handed the phone to Thor, “but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t look like that anymore. Longer hair, metal left arm and all that.”

Thor waved off his concern and looked up at the ceiling, “Heimdall! You see this man correct? Show me where he is being held at this time.” To Tony’s astonishment, Thor’s eyes turned golden and he seemed to be looking at something far away. Then it was over and Thor nodded at Tony, “I know where he is located.”

Tony sputtered, “W-what the? How did you? WHAT?”

As if he was talking about the god damned weather, Thor said, “Heimdall is able to see much of what goes on in the universe and he just allowed me to peer through his eyes for a moment. Barnes is being held in a city called ‘Washington D.C’ in what appears to be an old building underground.” He rubbed his chin, “I believe he was in a sort of primitive cryogenic chamber. There was some level of security, but nothing we cannot handle. If we leave now we could make it by-“

“Woah, woah, hold on Sparky, we’ve got to slow down and think about this.” Tony sat on the armrest of the couch, “When we take their favorite weapon, Hydra is gonna go berserk. We can’t let them know that we had anything to do with it, or else it could fuck up whatever plan Fury has in store. I would probably die from the stress that would cause me.” He threw a hand up in the air, “To add to it, we’ve gotta steal the tesseract from them!” He shook his head, “No, going in with a half-assed plan and our guns blazing would be a terrible idea.”

“I understand,” Thor nodded solemnly. “You wish to, how you say it, ‘think before you act’.” He shook his head in mock disbelief, “I never thought the nine realms would see the day when the great Tony Stark wants to make a plan, let alone actually follow it.”

Tony glared, “You ass! If I remember correctly, you are just as bad as me!”

“True, but at least my plans are slightly more advanced than simply, ‘attack’.” Thor grinned when Tony’s glare deepened and he slapped Thor’s arm, with a “Fuck off!”

The banter released some of the tension in the room and Tony got up to grab a tablet from a cabinet. He gestured for Thor to come back to the couch and sit beside him, then he set the face up on the coffee table and a detailed map of Washington D.C was soon projected into the air.

“So, can you show me where Barnes is being held?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this isn’t a Thor/Tony fic (although it has sparked an urge to read some fics...), I just like the idea of Thor and Tony bonding and being friends. Really, I just want them both to be happy after all the shit they went through.  
> See you next time!
> 
> P.S. Thor told Heimdall because he doesn’t want him to report to his dad about all the stuff he’s gonna do. But he’s the only other person who knows.


	4. Thor the Therapist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! I am so fucking grateful for the comments you guys leave! I read every single one and smile so wide! They really motivate me to keep writing this!  
> Anyway, sorry that this chapter is slightly shorter than usual, I just felt that I had a good place to stop. Still, nothing too big happens, it’s still just Thor and Tony bonding. It’s very sad but also tooth-rottingly sweet at times, so be prepared. Have fun!

Tony and Thor spent the rest of the night and a good part of the morning planning their next move. Eventually though, two days with only a couple hours of sleep, plus recovering from palladium poisoning, was enough to do Tony in. One moment he’s listening to the soothing cadence of Thor’s deep voice and the next he’s fast asleep. 

 

For awhile, he has no dreams and is just drifting through the darkness. Then, he’s jolted into a hellish landscape. It looked like Titan, but everything was on fire and Tony could hear screams all around him. He looks down and gasps when he sees Peter, bleeding out from a deep chest wound. As the kid chokes on his own blood, Tony hurriedly scans the area, looking for someone, _anyone_ , that could help his child. He tries screaming, but all that comes out is a throaty whine

 

Suddenly, a hand grips his left wrist and he’s being yanked down hard, until his ear is right next to Peter’s mouth.

 

“Y-your...fault...” Peter manages to say, before going slack beneath him.

 

Utter devastation fills Tony as he pulls the teen into his arms, “I know, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He cries into Peter’s neck. He hears booming footsteps and looks up to see Thanos looming over him. He’s is unable to move when Thanos yanks Peter away from him. Tony is helpless to watch as he holds Peter’s lifeless body by the throat in one hand, and brings the gauntlet up in his other. 

 

The titan smirks and then snaps his fingers. Tony screams soundlessly when he sees Peter’s body disintegrate. He tries so hard to make a sound, but it’s as if something is lodged in his throat. 

 

_Peter!_ He wails in his mind, _Peter, Peter!_

 

“Peter!” 

 

Tony’s eyes flew open and his limbs flailed under the blanket. His breaths came in harsh gasps and his hand was shaking over the arc reactor. 

 

“Anthony, are you well?” 

 

Tony whipped his head around to see Thor sitting at the kitchen counter, eating two sandwiches and drinking a coffee.

 

“Uh,” Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “yeah, I’m fine.” He looked out the window to see that it was well past noon. “J? What time is it?”

 

“4:35, sir.” 

 

Jesus, he must have really been tired. Not like he felt any more rested after that nightmare. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head. Getting up, he bent his back, groaning when he felt his bones crack. God, he felt like shit. And he was hungry.

 

He stepped up to the kitchen counter and before he could contemplate on what to eat, Thor slid a cup of coffee and a sandwich to him. Tony raised an eyebrow at him, but all he got was a small smile before Thor turned back to—wait, is that a newspaper?

 

“How the hell did you get a newspaper?”

 

Thor didn’t even look up as he said, “I went to the nearest market for food. Your refrigerator was mostly filled with those Chinese take-out boxes.” He turned the page and took a sip, “If I recall, mortal’s cannot maintain proper health on those kinds of meals, no matter how appetizing said meal is.” 

 

Tony rolled his eyes but took a bite of the sandwich—huh not bad—, “Since when do you care about my health?”

 

Thor stiffened in his seat, “…I have found that I do not like watching my friends die, especially if I could have prevented it.”

 

Oh.

 

Tony went to open the fridge and his jaw almost dropped at the sight of his XL refrigerator stuffed to the brim with food.

 

“Jesus Christ! How’d you—where did you get all the money to by this stuff?”

 

Thor turned and smiled brightly at him, “Your robotic servant told me where to find one of your credit cards.” 

 

“JARVIS? What the hell?”

 

“Mr. Odinson assured me it was for the sake of your wellbeing, so I felt compelled to aid him in his venture.”

 

Tony crossed his arms and stomped back to sit at the counter, “Traitor. I’ll donate you to MIT if you’re not careful.”

 

“Noted, sir.”

 

Tony grumbled, but inside he felt all warm and fuzzy. He’d missed the special way he and JARVIS would banter back and forth. Sure, F.R.I.D.A.Y. was much more outspoken and expressive, but there was always something missing between the exchanges. She could never replace what he and JARVIS has. 

 

“Who’s Peter?”

 

Tony froze. So, he _did_ say that out loud. 

 

“He was— _is_ a kid I know” he stared down at his coffee cup, avoiding Thor’s gaze, “He, uh, died on Titan.” His hands tightened into fists in his lap.

 

A warm hand fell on his shoulder, “I’m sorry.” 

 

Tony was silent for a moment, then he looked up at Thor with a sad smirk, “We’re pretty fucked up, huh?”

 

Thor smiled sadly back, “Yes, I would say so.” He patted Tony on the shoulder, “Come on, let us finish our meal.”

 

Tony hummed and started eating his sandwich again, “So, you’re really okay with staying an extra day?”

 

Thor nodded, “Yes, it is best that you have the cover of your expo while I retrieve Barnes. None of them know who I am, so it cannot be traced back to you. Then I’ll bring him to you and go and retrieve the tesseract before returning to Asgard. I should still have ample time to make it home before my father falls into Odinsleep.” 

 

Tony shifted in his seat, “Thanks uh, for you know, doing all of this. You didn’t have to.”

 

“What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned you in your time of need?”

 

“A pretty common one, actually.” Tony mutters.

 

Thor sighed, “What Steven did was...unacceptable, yes. But when you find him, you must give him a chance. Technically, he has not done anything yet.

 

“Fuck—yeah I,” Tony ran a hand through his hair, “I _know_ , I just—it’s been two years, I should be over this! I should be able to move _on_ , and until that day I thought I had, but..”

 

“Betrayal is not something easily forgiven. Believe me, I know.” Thor’s eyes noticeably dimmed, “You and I will both have to find ways in which we can trust again.” He smiled softly, “But I have faith that we will succeed in all our endeavors in the coming years.” 

 

Tony blushed at the conviction in Thor’s eyes and got up, “Come on Point Break, let’s watch some TV, these emotional powwows are wearing me out.”

 

Thor laughed and got up as well, making his way over as Tony started flipping through channels. He flopped down next to the genius and wrapped an arm around his smaller frame. Tony looked up at him incredulously and Thor just raised an eyebrow. To the god’s surprise, Tony just shrugged and nestled in closer to his side. 

 

That’s where the two spent the next few hours, being each other’s anchor in a world that just a few days ago, had seemed a million miles away. 

 

————————

 

The next day came quickly. The night before, after going down to the lab to work on upgrading the suit, a series of events led to Tony somehow sleeping in his bed as the little spoon to Thor. He would never admit it, but he felt much safer when he was cuddled up next to someone while he slept. So he got a good 6 hours in and felt much better. Much more prepared to face the world and put on his press smile. He could be Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist...at least for tonight. 

 

Tony was on his jet, making his way to Queens. He was watching the recent feed of Peter and smiling at the shy little boy. JARVIS had gotten him inside the school and used the classroom’s computer to keep an eye on Peter. He didn’t seem to have any friends though. Looks like Peter hadn’t met that Ted kid yet.

 

Currently, Peter was laying on his stomach outside near the playground, kicking his feet and humming as he watched a caterpillar eating a leaf in front of him. He was alternating from writing in a notebook and chewing on the pencil he was using. This was a habit that Tony had seen the older Peter doing whenever they were in the lab together. There weren’t many writing utensils in Tony’s lab (because duh, digital is way better), but the few that were there were always covered in bite marks. 

 

Tony scowled when a kid suddenly ran over the caterpillar without a thought as he tried to catcha ball. Peter looked shocked for a second, then his face dropped and his lower lip started shaking. Oh god, please don’t cry. He couldn’t handle _teenage_ , Peter crying; Tony doesn’t think he’d be able to stand watching kid Peter cry. 

 

Thankfully, Peter just sighed and picked up the remains of the bug and walked over to a nearby tree. He moved some dirt out of the way and gently laid it down before covering it back up. Then he glanced around before he saw a dandelion nearby. Peter picked it and set it down over the mini grave, his head bowed. Peter was saying something, but Tony wasn’t the best lip reader—luckily, JARVIS was. 

 

“Hey J? Can you tell me what Peter said?”

 

“Of course, sir. With approximately 91% accuracy, Mr. Parker said, “Goodbye Mr. or Mrs. Caterpillar, you will be missed. Say hi to Mommy and Daddy for me, okay?”

 

Tony felt his eyes water as he watched Peter get up and brush the dirt off his ragged jeans, then run back inside as recess ended. 

 

“Are you crying for a bug, Stark?”

 

Tony slammed the laptop shut and whirled around, “No! There was just, something in my eye!”

 

Thor just leaned against the leaned against the doorway with a cheeky grin. Dammit, why did he let Thor hitch a ride? He should have just made him fly all the way to D.C, the bastard. 

 

He huffed and pulled out his phone, blatantly ignoring the god. He scowled even more when he heard Thor chuckle and walk over to sit across from him. Tony resolutely kept his gaze downwards. 

 

“Was that your Peter?”

 

God, he longed for the days when Thor was oblivious to these kind of things. Perceptive fuck.

 

“Yes.” He answered shortly, glancing up to glare at Thor.

 

The thunder god raised his hands up in mock surrender, “Peace, friend. I was merely curious. Peter looks to be fine young lad. He is lucky to have you as a father.”

 

Tony looked up in shock, “But I’m not...”

 

“Aye, I know. You may not be connected by blood, but I can tell you care for him like a son. Why else would you monitor him constantly?”

 

Tony shifted uncomfortably, “Just to, I don’t know, make sure some ripple effect from our time travel doesn’t affect him negatively.”

 

Thor just cocked his head and smiled, “And yet you watch such mundane footage? No, I think not.”

 

“Okay, fine!” Tony snapped, “I do care about him. Hell, I’d die a million times over just to see him happy! He didn’t deserve to die on that planet! He didn’t deserve any of it!” 

 

Tony breathed harshly, noticing that he had stood up at some point. Thor just looked at him with an unreadable expression and it started to piss Tony off even more.

 

Before Tony’s blood pressure went any higher, Thor said, “It is good to see you have someone to care for. Ive always known you to be a very lonely man, Stark. But this child seems to give you a purpose, something that not even the Avengers could do.” Thor looked Tony straight in the eye, “I am truly happy for you.”

 

Tony felt his limbs go weak and he fell back into his seat. He rubbed his hands over his face, “Fucking Christ, when did you become my therapist?”

 

Thor put his feet up on the table and started picking at his nails, “Helping you is a welcome distraction from my own problems. I am the King— _future_ , King of Asgard. I cannot be allowed to break down, not when my people’s lives are at stake.”

 

Fuck, that made Tony feel like an asshole for yelling. Thor lost so much in such a short amount of time. His family, his home, most of his fucking _people_ , had been gone. All that before the snap. And Tony suspected there was more that the god wasn’t telling him. More heartache and suffering that Thor hasn’t been dealing with. It didn’t matter that all of it had been undone; the memory was still there. It had already left it’s mark. 

 

Tony didn’t know what to say, really. So he said nothing, and they sat in silence until Thor had to get off while they were flying over D.C. The jet slowed down and decreased in altitude enough so that when they opened the door, everything wasn’t immediately sucked out. Tony stood behind Thor as he cracked his neck and picked up Mjolnir.

 

“You got the com?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And the transmitter?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“You gonna make sure you don’t fry it? They aren’t resistant to high voltage.”

 

“I will.”

 

“Have the sedative in case he gets too riled up?”

 

“Can’t I just punch him into unconsciousness?”

 

“Thor.”

 

“I jest. Yes I have it.”

 

“Good, I don’t know exactly how enhanced he is compared to Cap, so I gave you one that is strong enough to take down Steve for about an hour. Hopefully it’ll last longer than that.” Tony sat down in a nearby seat and buckled himself in. He rubbed the back of his head, “I—good luck, with everything. And thanks again.” 

 

Tony understood why women (and men) went crazy over Thor, jesus that _smile_. If Tony didn’t...

“Okay, tell me the second you have him, and then head to the address I showed you. I’ll meet you there”

 

Thor nodded and opened the door.

 

He winced at the loud sound of the wind rushing into the jet. As Thor started winding up his hammer, Tony yelled over the noise, “And try not to draw any outside attention! We don’t need anyone to know who you are just yet! Stealth is a big part of this!” 

 

“I am the master of stealth!” Thor boomed and lightning flashed outside. 

 

Tony gave him an unimpressed look, but waved him off anyway, “All right, go get him tiger.” 

 

Then Thor was gone and the door closed behind him. 

 

JARVIS piped up, “Sir, we will be arriving in New York in about an hour. Expected landing time is 6:12 pm.”

 

Good, some extra time to work on upgrading the suit. Getting the Iron Man suit to at least acceptable levels was time consuming, since most of the base tech he’s had to do from scratch. He unbuckled and headed back to his seat, flipping over his laptop. He smiled in surprise at the feed of Peter walking home from school. He’d forgotten he was watching the footage. Tony rested his cheek on his hand and continued watching Peter skip down the sidewalk, occasionally picking random things off the ground or waving at people. He felt a wave of peace rush over him, giving him strength for what he knew would soon be the beginning of a lot of sweat, blood, and tears. He would do anything for Peter. He would stay away from him, in order to keep him safe, and watch him from afar. Even if it pained him every second he was doing it. 

 

The screen suddenly changed to a live one of a taxi and Tony startled as JARVIS said, “Sir, I believe I should inform you that Mr. Parker and his Aunt and Uncle appear to be heading to the Stark Expo. Records show that they purchased tickets not long after you announced it’s return. I apologize for not knowing earlier.”

 

Oh my fucking god. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SWEAR THIS ISNT A THOR/TONY FIC I SWEAR
> 
> On another note, will Tony be meeting little Peter? Will Bucky’s rescue go according to plan? 
> 
> I honesty don’t know yet, like I said, it writes itself.
> 
> P.S. Go to my tumblr “cut-the-mustard” for my thoughts and ramblings about this fic. It’ll be tagged #SecondChance   
> Until next time!


	5. The First Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, I’m really pushing my self imposed deadline lol.  
> Sorry about the longer than usual wait, I just wanted this chapter to turn out well and not seem over dramatic or unrealistic. Though, the chapter is a little longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for the wait.  
> I really really appreciate all the lovely comments! Seeing how you guys react to each chapter really keeps me going! 
> 
> One more thing, heed tag changes. They will happen often, since I don’t have much of a plan besides a few things.  
> The latest tag is very important! It is barely even implied in this chapter, but it will be discussed more in depth later on. Again,  
> *PLEASE READ TAGS REGULARLY IF YOU KNOW YOU CAN BE TRIGGERED BY SENSITVE TOPICS*  
> Anyway, enjoy!

“I’ll still do the opening presentation! Then I’ll just leave right after!”

 

“Tony! You promised you would walk around to look at the exhibits! People paid extra to meet with you!”

 

“Then reimburse them, I don’t care. I have things to do!” That was technically not a lie, but JARVIS estimated that Thor would be at least another couple of hours. He did have time, and he should stay, but the thought of Peter being there flooded him with anxiety.

 

He knows that if he stuck around, he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of going to see the kid. Tony’s not sure he’d be able to do that without hugging Peter and never letting him go; he doesn’t think kidnapping would go over well with Pepper.

 

“Look just,” Tony sunk into the limo seat and fidgeted with his watch strap, “I’m really not feeling up to whole, ‘social interaction’ thing today. So please Pep, I...” if possible, he huddled more in on himself.

 

“What the hell, Tony? I have never seen you like this! You’ve been looking forward to this for months! What the fuck happened on your desert trip?”

 

Tony internally flinched at the curse; Pepper never swears unless she’s really mad. He continued to avoid eye contact, “Nothing! Baby, I need you to do this for me, I’m really sorry, I—“

 

“And what’s up with that? You called me ‘honey’ earlier and now ‘baby’? What is going on with you?”

 

He rubbed on the inside of his left wrist and stared at Pepper’s feet. He swallowed sharply; he could feel an anxiety attack coming on.

 

He’s startled by Pepper grabbing his left hand and pulling it towards her, “Look at me Tony, what are you, five? Talk to me!”

 

Tony immediately jerked out of her grasp and looked at her with wide eyes. His hands start shaking and he’s biting his lip so hard he can taste blood. His chest aches and the pressure inside it is rising. It’s getting harder and harder to breathe and he can’t shake himself out of it. He’s spiraling and there nothing he can do and jesus FUCK, he’s gonna die, he’s definitely gonna die this time and—!

 

“—ony! Tony! Breathe. Tony you have to breathe! In and out, like this!” Pepper does a poor imitation of calm breathing. He started focusing on on her and is taken aback by what he saw. She looked almost as freaked out as Tony felt.

 

That’s when he realizes that this wasn’t the Pepper he knew anymore. This one had never seen Tony in the throes of a panic attack. After Afghanistan, he only really got nightmares and a distaste for putting his head underwater. New York, however, was when his anxiety became a problem. Pepper had usually been there for him, either physically or over the phone, but when the two had taken a break, Tony had to kind of self-soothe, because it’s not like there was anyone else to help him through it. Sometimes Steve would be there, but after Siberia...he had no one.

 

So, Tony took a minute to even out his breathing, going to that happy place in his head. His therapist would have been proud at how quickly he managed to calm himself.

 

When he nodded at Pepper to show he was all right, she sighed and rubbed her temples, “I wish you would just tell me what’s wrong.” She was silent for a moment then rolled her eyes upward before looking at him, “Fine. I’ll cover for you. But you have to stay at least a half an hour after the presentation.”

 

Tony opened his mouth to protest but she held up a hand, “No. I’m cutting you a lot of slack because I’m worried, but you’ve got to at least look like you care.” He does care, he cares so much. That’s the problem. “Give me thirty minutes and then I’ll let you go.”

 

I guess that’s as good as he’s gonna get. “Okay. Thanks Pep.”

 

She smiled and rolled her eyes, “The things I do for you.”

 

Tony tried to smile back but it felt more like a grimace. They were interrupted by Happy rolling down the divider, “We’re here.”

 

Pepper was the first to step out, back straight and steps determined as she disappeared into the sea of reporters. Tony took a shuddering breath and slapped on his press smile (it had a few cracks in it, but hopefully no one would notice), before slowly rising up and out of the limo.

 

Let’s get this over with.

 

————————

 

At the last minute, Tony had tuned down the opening presentation into just him alone on the stage, the Iron Man suit standing a ways behind him. He didn’t want the expo to be overshadowed by him, despite the namesake. Now that there was no threat of evil robots, he actually wanted it to do what it was supposed to in the first place: showcase the latest advancements in science and technology.

 

Thankfully, the opening really only lasted fifteen minutes and he took a breather backstage as the other presenters started going up. Tony leaned his head against a wall and closed his eyes, trying to find some “zen”.

 

He was interrupted by the comm buzzing in his ear and Thor saying, “I have infiltrated the base.”

 

Tony pressed against his ear, “How many guys?” He smiled and raised a hand in greeting at a colleague walking by.

 

“Not many, perhaps twenty or thirty.”

 

He saw Pepper in the distance, leading a small group of people towards him, must be the VIP guests, “Remember, find a computer, put the transmitter under it, and don’t break it for at least twenty minutes. That should be enough time for JARVIS to send all the files we need. Then grab Barnes and get out.”

 

“Yes, yes. Now go show your face around your expo, I have enemies to destroy.” Tony could hear the whoosh of the hammer being spun.

 

“Don’t attract too much attention!” He called before the comm clicked off. Just in time for Pepper to arrive with the eager guests.

“Now, Mr. Stark is a very busy man, so he won’t be able to stay very long,” many faces fell in disappointment, “But! For the next forty-five minutes, you will be able to walk around with him as he looks at some of the stations put up around the building.” That got the group muttering excitedly and it got Tony’s anxiety to spike.

 

He smiled weakly and nodded at the group and turned around to whisper in Pepper’s ear, “I thought I said to give them a refund! And we agreed that I’d stay thirty minutes! _Thirty_!

 

“Yes, but I _also_ said I’d cover for you when you left early.” She motioned for the people to follow behind them, “This is part of that.”

 

Tony grumbled but allowed her to grip him by the arm and steer him to the nearest semi-interesting stand.

 

————————

 

Fifteen minutes in and Tony was ready to rip out his own hair. Everything was so _old_ compared to all the tech in 2018. He had to fight not to yawn when people would be explaining how their things worked. Thankfully, they were kind of speed running through stands. The presenter would give a nervous and rushed speech, he would say something inspiring or nice and then on to the next one.

 

The group was following him around like ducklings and not in a cute way (not like when Peter walked into his lab one day with a bunch of baby ducklings and the mother in his arms because “it was really cold outside, Mr. Stark”). No, it was more in a creepy way. Especially this one woman who clearly just paid for the ticket to try and get in his pants. She did everything she could to stand right next to him and Tony had to subtly shy away from her touch as she laughed at almost everything he said.

 

So basically everything sucked and he was hating every second of his existence. Halfway through some arrogant prick’s speech about his shitty AI, Tony felt a small body barrel into his legs. He stumbled and looked down to see a boy on the ground with an Iron Man mask on and a toy gauntlet raised as if to fire at Tony.

 

It’s that kid! The one who tried to take on one of those hammer drones by himself! Pretty brave little guy, Tony was glad he got there in time before.

 

“Oh my god, Peter! I’m so sorry Mr. Stark!” That’s when he looked up to the sound of what he assumed to be one of the kid’s parents as JARVIS said in his ear, “Sir, that is Peter Parker.”

 

His eyes widened and he stared as he watched May and Ben run over. “We’re really sorry Mr. Stark,” May tugged Peter in to a standing position, “Peter here got away from us for one second and he’s kind of obsessed with Iron Man.”

 

“Not just Iron Man!” Peter protest was muffled behind the mask, “I like you a lot too, Mr. Stark!” Tony just stared silently at him, trying to process what the hell was going on.

 

Tony’s gaze snapped up to Ben, who had appeared behind Peter and pulled back the mask to reveal the ten year-old’s face, “Come on, where’s your manners?”

 

Peter’s young face was one of the cutest things Tony thinks he’s ever seen. Watching on grainy security cameras was nothing compared to the real thing. Fuck.

 

Without the mask, Peter immediately looked down at the ground and blushed fiercely, “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark,” he mumbled. A nudge from Ben and then he stuck his hand out, “Hello, it’s nice to meet you, sir, I’m Peter Parker.”

 

By some miracle, Tony held it together and knelt down to take Peter’s hand in his own, “It’s okay. It’s nice to meet you too, Peter.” Oh jesus, his heart is pounding so hard in his chest.

 

Peter’s face got redder and glanced up at Tony, “I—I just...wanted to say....” Tony smiled patiently and nodded at him to go on.

 

“Well...Ithinkyou’rereallycoolandreallysmartandthankyouforbeingahero!” Tony barely batted an eyelash at the almost unintelligible string of words, (older Peter had a similar problem when he got excited or nervous).

 

“Thank you, Peter. I think you’re pretty cool too.”

 

Peter lifted his head and stared at him in awe, “Really?”

 

Tony thinks his body is just a vessel to radiate love and adoration for this kid, “Really. Would you like to come see some of the exhibits with me?” He really shouldn’t be doing this, it isn’t _safe_ for him to be around Peter, but he just can’t help himself.

 

Peter’s face lights up, “Oh my gosh!” He turns around to face his aunt and uncle, “Can I? Can I? Can I? Oh pleeeease say yes!”

 

May looked shocked and unsure, “Are you sure, Mr. Stark? You don’t have to do this and you’re obviously a very busy man...”

 

Tony stood back up, still clutching Peter’s hand like a lifeline, “It’s no trouble, he seems like a great kid.” The best.

 

May hesitated and looked at her husband, “Ben?”

 

Tony’s gaze snapped to the man beside her and he’s immediately struck by an intense stare. Ben kept looking between Tony and Peter, especially at their intertwined hands. Tony suddenly felt an intense jealousy at the man who practically raised Peter. The feeling is completely unjustified and ridiculous and Tony knows it, but he feels it all the same.

 

The two men stared at each other for a moment, Tony’s worry and frustration increasing with each second, but then Ben gave a lazy smile and said, “Sure buddy,” and ruffled Peter’s hair.

 

Tony lamented at the loss when Peter let go of his hand to push Ben away in embarrassment. But to his surprise, Peter immediately put his hand back into Tony’s. Really, what did Tony do to be this blessed?

 

He turned around to see Pepper smiling at him. Then he noticed the group of people looking at him in various stages of annoyance; only a few seemed even mildly touched by the display. Then, that fucking _woman_ , had the _audacity_ to complain, “Why should he get to come with us? That kid didn’t pay extra for this!”

 

Tony turned his full attention to her for the first time that night. He glared so hard at her that her eyes widened in fear and she took a step back. When he felt she got the message loud and clear, he turned his glare to the others, “Show’s over. Don’t follow us.”

 

They all looked too spooked to bother protesting and quickly disappeared into the fray. Pepper sighed in exasperation. “Tony, you can’t just scare people like that! They were promised 45 minutes.”

 

Tony sniffed, “They should be honored just to spend one _minute_ with me, those ba—“ he stopped himself when he heard Ben cough. Oh right, child present.

 

Then Tony noticed Pepper, already typing fiercely on her phone before looking up at him with a sigh, “Well, I’ve got things to go deal with. Have fun guys.” Then she stepped closer to Tony’s other side and whispered, “I’m glad you decided to stay. Thank you for doing this for me.” Tony barely kept himself from snapping back that it wasn’t for _her_ (and woah, where did that come from?). She smiled and patted him on the shoulder before walking away.

 

He looked down at Peter and grinned, “Where to first?”

 

The kid gave the question a lot of thought, tapping his finger on his chin as he looked around. His face fell, however, because of his inability to see above the throng of people. Well, Tony had a solution to that.

 

Peter let out a squeak of surprise when Tony raised him up and put him on his shoulders, “There, can you see okay now?” Some people would argue Peter was too old, but screw them, Peter was small for his age and Tony does what he wants. And that includes making sure Peter enjoys this as much as possible.

 

Peter squealed in delight, “I can see everything from up here, Mr. Stark!” He started kicking his legs in excitement and Tony quickly held them down.

 

“Hey, hey, calm down big guy. Don’t want you falling off. Do you see anything interesting?”

 

Peterscanned the area before pointing to the right, “There’s one about nanotechnology and medicine over there.”

 

Of course young Peter would be just as smart and nerdy as teen Peter.

 

Tony turned in that direction, “Then that’s where we’re going.” He set off, Ben and May walking behind them.

 

People stopped to stare at the sight of Tony Stark with a kid on his shoulders, but a quick glare from Tony was enough to make them scurry away.

 

They reached the stand and Tony got on one knee and bent his head so Peter could hop off. The kid was practically bouncing he was so excited (another quirk Tony’s seen from him before). It looked like a small crowd of people had just started to gather around to hear the inventor speak. Tony gave the guy credit, because he only looked shocked to see him and Peter for a moment before launching smoothly into talking about his invention.

 

Although Tony’s nano tech far surpassed these, it’s not like he had actually made them yet, so he tried to look like he was listening. Though that was mostly because Peter was practically hanging on every word the guy said and he couldn’t wait to make his nano suit so he could show Peter and have him—Tony paused and his mood fell. He couldn’t do that. After this, he’ll probably never see Peter again. It was for the best really, everyone he ever cared about was always in danger because of _him_. He couldn’t be so selfish as to push himself into Peter’s life. He’d just have to be content to watch from afar from here on out, even though the thought makes his heart clench.

 

He’s snapped out of his melancholy thoughts when the presentation ended and people started asking questions. Peter instantly had his hand up and is bouncing from foot to foot. Thankfully, the guy just seemed amused by Peter’s antics, “Yes, you young man! What’s your question?”

 

Unfortunately, that caused everyone to turn and look at Peter. He shied away from all the attention and mumbled, “Uh, never mind...”. Oh no, this won’t stand.

 

Tony put a comforting hand on his shoulder and leaned down to whisper in Peter’s ear, “It’s okay, ask your question. I know it’s gonna be a good one.”

 

Peter smiled at him in thanks then cleared his throat, “Do you, um, do you plan on creating a type of nano-robot that could do complex work in the body, like repairing things on the cellular level? Because that could be a huge breakthrough in medicine, people wouldn’t have to go through surgeries as much and they’re wouldn’t be as much damage to the body.”

 

The guy blinked in surprise, not expecting such an advanced question from a kid. From the looks of the crowd, Tony suspected they didn’t either.

 

Then the man grinned and chuckled a little, “Geez, you’re a pretty smart kid, huh? And yes, we have made plans for a type of nano-surgery—especially heart surgery—, but they are still in the very early stages of research. Good question, Einstein.” Then he turned to address other people in the crowd.

 

Tony was so proud of Peter, just like him to knock everyone’s socks off with his genius. He looked back at Peter to ask where they should go next, but was alarmed to see him frozen in place, eyes wide in fear. Tony could feel him shaking under his hand.

 

Tony immediately went on alert, telling JARVIS to keep the suit on standby before ushering Peter to a more secluded area. He didn’t hear May’s worried shout or notice Ben’s sudden anger and he didn’t notice losing them in the crowd. They stopped at the side of a building, the lights and sounds of the expo faded in the background.

 

Peter was heaving in small gasps and seemed unaware of his surroundings. Tony was thrown; he had to deal with teenage Peter’s panic attacks, but what the hell was a nine year old having one for?

 

“Peter? I’m right here, it’s me, Tony.” Peter looked at him and opened his mouth, but all that came out was a whimper. Tony’s heart broke and he cupped Peter’s red and tear-stained cheek.“Everything’s okay buddy, you’re safe. But you’re gonna have to take some deep breaths for me. Can you do that?” Peter nodded and took a shaky big breath.

 

“That’s it, good job! Keep going.” It took a minute, but Peter eventfully calmed enough for Tony to talk to him.

 

“You’re alright. Do you want to tell me what happened?” Peter’s eyes widened and he shook his head fiercely. “That’s okay, no problem.” Tony smiled and opened his arms, “Would you like a h—“ his breath came out in a whoosh as Peter barreled into his arms.

 

“I knew you’d come to save me, I knew it!” Peter whispered into Tony’s neck (but he didn’t save him, he was too _weak_ to save him). The desperation and despair in Peter’s voice hardened Tony’s resolve to find whoever was responsible for hurting Peter like this and make them suffer for the rest of their miserable life.

 

That’s when Ben and May came running up to them, both calling out Peter’s name. Tony almost didn’t let go when Peter wrenched himself from the embrace, “Aunt May! Uncle Ben!” He ran up and nestled into May’s side as she talked softly to him and asked if he was okay. Tony looked on softly at the display and got up off his knees.

 

“What the hell did you think you were doing!” Tony turned to see a red-faced and livid Ben Parker right in front of him. “Why did you take Peter!”

 

Tony immediately felt indignant, “He was having a panic attack! I just wanted a quiet place to calm him down.”

 

“What makes you think you have the right to do that!” Ben bellowed.

 

“He needed help! I know how to calm h—someone down when these kind of things happens. I know what he’s going through!” Tony sneered, “So I think I have every right!”

 

“Well he’s my nephew! It’s not your job!” Yes it is, yes it _is_. “Why did you even walk around with him? You don’t know him or hell, any of us at all!”

 

Tony’s hands started sweating and he stepped back, “He just—seemed like a good, smart kid, that’s all!”

 

Ben scoffed, “I saw how you were with him immediately! You’re completely infatuated! What kind of sick fuck—“

 

Tony saw red and he clenched his fists, fighting the urge to start swinging, “Don’t you _dare_ imply that. Don’t you _fucking dare_. I would never, _never_ , hurt him like that. _Ever_. I swear to god if Peter wasn’t right there I’d—“

 

“Enough!”

 

Tony and Ben startled and looked over to see May glaring furiously at them. Peter was in her arms and his face was stricken and tears were streaming down it.

 

“I’m sorry Uncle Ben! It’s my fault, please don’t be mad at Mr. Stark! He was only helping me! Please Uncle Ben, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

 

Seeing that sucked the fight out of both of them. Ben sighed, “Don’t be sorry, Peter. It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have yelled like that, I’m the one who should be sorry.”

 

Tony felt like a piece of shit, “I’m sorry too, kiddo.” He frowned, “I’m sorry to all of you. I overstepped, I know that. There’s a lot of reasons for—“ he paused when the comm crackled in his ear.

 

“Stark? I have retrieved Barnes and will arrive at the location within half an hour.”

 

Shit. Everything was happening all at once and he can barely keep up with any of it. Fuck! He had to leave as soon as possible. Driving there was the only option; flying in the suit would draw too much attention.

 

“Mr. Stark?”

 

Peter. No, he wasn’t _ready_. He didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want it to end this way but...he had to. For Peter’s safety, he had to end this now. Had to cut these ties created tonight.

 

“Sorry kid,” how _impersonal_. “Something came up and I have to get going. I hope the rest of your li—night is amazing.” Turn around now, start walking, “Believe me when I say you’re gonna be a pioneer in whatever you decide to do.” Stop and put on sunglasses, then turn head to the side, “Trust me I’m a genius.”

 

Tony left with that, leaving the Parker’s behind in silence. He kept a brisk pace all the way to the limo and nodded at Happy when he got in.

 

“Where to boss?”

 

“...The mansion.”

 

Happy looked confused, “Your parents’ mansion? I though you sold that thing years ago.”

 

Tony just shrugged, “Well, I didn’t. Get going, I’m in a hurry.”

 

Happy glanced at him through the rear-view mirror for a second before starting to drive. The first few minutes were driven in silence and then, “Boss, are you ok—“

 

Tony cut him off by pressing the button to close the divider. Then he pressed another to put on music in the background. He raised a shaky hand to gently remove his sunglasses. He leaned back into the leather seats andstared out the window stoically.

 

A beat, then another.

 

He was glad he had turned on the music. It hid the sounds of his sobs very well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I played myself.
> 
> Edit: PETER DOES NOT REMEMBER!   
> HIS PANIC ATTACK IS BECAUSE OF SOMETHING ELSE  
> NO ONE ELSE WILL COME BACK/REMEMBER (I used Thor so I didn’t have to deal with the infinity stones so(also sorry if I sound mean I just want to make that clear because people are confused))  
>  
> 
> P.S. Check me out on my tumblr [cut-the-mustard](http://cut-the-mustard.tumblr.com/)


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